Two men and a woman go on trial accused of staging 'crash for cash' accidents

Nasir Mahmood, Aniela Chaudhry, and Bernie Bautista are on trial for carrying out six bogus accidents for insurance cash

The prosecution claim Nasir Mahmood is the mastermind behind a 'crash for cash' scam

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Two Reading men and a woman are facing trial for staging ‘cash for crash’ accidents to scam money from insurance claims.

Nasir Mahmood, 32, of Morpeth Close, South Reading; Aniela Chaudhry, 39, of Alan Place, Calcot; and Bernie Bautista, 43, of Elm Park Road, West Reading, are on trial for carrying out six bogus accidents for insurance cash.

They deny conspiring together and with others to commit fraud by falsely representing that road traffic collisions occurring between January 1, 2011, and August 1, 2012, were accidental to obtain money from insurance claims. They also deny conspiring to drive dangerously between the same dates.

At the opening of the trial at Reading Crown Court on Tuesday, Ann Evans, prosecuting, said the method of two cars acting in convoy was repeated six times between October 5, 2011, and May 25, 2012.

Miss Evans said all the victims in the collisions reported the car they crashed into had at least three or four passengers. In one, driver Basil Vaughan, who was travelling with his 80-year-old mother on May 22, 2012, described seeing a car swerving across the road closely followed by a second vehicle moments before he crashed into the back of it.

He said he was helpless as the two vehicles pulled into the junction 13 slip road on the M4 just “a matter of feet” from his car.

The second car then braked sharply causing Mr Vaughan, despite braking sharply, to hit the car in front.

Shortly after a collision on February 29, 2012, on the A4074 just south of Benson, a victim’s insurance company received four claims for personal injury. More than £18,000 was put aside by the insurance company to cover the claim.

Miss Evans explained the Crown believe Mahmood was the mastermind behind this conspiracy, while Chaudhry and Bautista were his “trusted” lieutenants.

Miss Evans said: “The man [Mahmood] who received over £9,000 in a claim made in January 2011, but who himself never appears as either the driver or passenger in any of these collisions.”

A statement from Alex O’Neill, 20, of Kent, described how he was driving his car towards the Waterworks Roundabout, in Walthamstow, North East London, at 10.10pm on January 2, 2012, when an orange Nissan Micra in front of him and a black saloon ahead of that stopped at traffic lights.

The saloon moved off but started veering from side to side and the Micra slammed on its brakes, causing Mr O’Neill’s car to hit the back of it.

He said there was very minor damage to his car and none to the other and no injuries, but they swapped details. The driver gave her details as Aniela Farrah, of Bath Road, West Reading.

A few weeks later Mr O’Neill received a call from a car hire company asking for his insurance details because their client’s car was not drivable. Mr O’Neill reported the incident to his insurance company, which went on to receive an invoice for £2,930 for car hire and four injury claims from the driver and passengers. The insurer refused to pay.

Police searched Chaudhry’s house on August 1, 2012, where they found an A4 book with notes referring to 17 separate traffic collisions.

They also recovered 62 files relating to traffic collisions, some of which had Mahmood’s fingerprints on.

Miss Evans told the jury they would hear evidence from a handwriting forensic expert who concluded that there was strong evidence the writing found in the files was produced by Mahmood.

She said Mahmood denies knowing either Chaudhry or Bautista before the start of the court proceedings. The trial continues.